Uphill Battle

Ever since Pat Hill arrived back at Fresno State, in 1997, to coach the Bulldogs he has faced an uphill battle. What Hill faces today and this week against USC is nothing compared to what he faced in his first year. Back in 1997 Hill was replacing the best coach in Bulldog history, Jim Sweeney, took over a program that had three straight losing seasons, and had only about 60 scholarship players. It was the lowest point in the program since the late 1970's.

Hill came in with the mantra "that we will play big time football." Everyone in the community chuckled as no one seemed to think Fresno State could ever the play the likes of Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wisconsin or USC in the regular season, let alone on national television.

Well, here we are in 2005 and the community has embraced this no-nonsense coach for over eight years. No one in 1997 could have ever imagined that Fresno State would be ranked 16th in the country and be headed to the Coliseum to face off against the no. 1 ranked USC Trojans on national television.